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October 24, 2008 9:39 AM PDT

Virtual keypads set to grace Android phones

by Marguerite Reardon
(Credit: T-Mobile)

Ever since Apple's iPhone hit the market, some people have loved using a virtual keypad. Others have hated it.

Owners of Google's new G1 Android phones could soon have a choice to use either the existing slide-out QWERTY keyboard or a virtual keyboard like the iPhone's.

Google has added "soft keyboards" to its road map of future software releases. The new software hook is expected to be available for phone manufacturers as part of the source code in the first three months of 2009.

While there are many features to love about the G1, which is the first Android phone to hit the market, there are several items missing. A virtual keypad is one of them.

Without the touchscreen keypad, people have to slide out the QWERTY keypad to send text messages, IMs, and e-mail.

Originally posted at Wireless
Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.
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by gerrrg October 24, 2008 10:07 AM PDT
Virtual keyboard isn't an issue....what IS an issue, is the really short battery life.
Reply to this comment
by hafenbrack October 24, 2008 10:28 AM PDT
that though is not purley a function of the OS, but more of a hardware problem in this case. Since this article about Android and NOT the G1, then the battery life can not be used as a comparison. G1 =/ Android
Reply to this comment
by inachu October 24, 2008 10:40 AM PDT
I thoght this article would be about hooking up REAL virtual keyboard devices which cost around $100

They are really nice and a perfect fit for a meeeting room that has its lights turned off for some overhead projection.

I do not mind my virtual keyboard on my iphone.
Reply to this comment
by tim.lsr October 24, 2008 12:23 PM PDT
One very useful feature of the virtual and physical keyboards on my past smartphones (SE P910 & 990) was alternate layouts. A physical keyboard is great, but when you want to enter text from another language like Russian into a translator program, the virtual keyboard makes that very easy. I have little doubt that this is one motivation on the Android developers part.
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by checodaman October 24, 2008 12:33 PM PDT
Battery life, no virtual keyboard...I can deal with those. What I cant deal with is no A2DP. I want to get android OS so bad but just cant do it until the G1 supports A2DP. My entire car stereo system is dependant on a bt2.0 phone!
Reply to this comment
by kgsbca October 24, 2008 2:40 PM PDT
I can live without a virtual keyboard, what makes the G1 useless to me is the lack of a POP3/IMAP email client. Yes, it comes with one, but it doesn't work. at all. While T-mobile is apologizing profusely, nobody is saying when it will be fixed. I don't know if they just want to force everyone to use gmail, but a lot of people will send the phone back if they can't fix this soon.

otherwise, I like the phone. a lot.
Reply to this comment
by Seaspray0 October 24, 2008 3:51 PM PDT
I haven't seen one yet, so I really can't say if it's going to be good or bad. What I do like so far is that it's an open develpment platform. There are no restrictions on what you can or cannot load on the phone.
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by mattumanu October 24, 2008 4:02 PM PDT
Just say "no" to virtual keypads.
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by G1OS October 28, 2008 8:34 PM PDT
is that thrut i love virtual keyboards i'll so waiting this one and yea the battery life is to short but this still a very wonderfull phone and no body cant deny that
Reply to this comment
by nebby74 November 6, 2008 7:28 AM PST
Battery life has been excellent on my G1. Easily get 40-50 hours on a charge. Yeah, sure I'm not using it all day long for browsing and gaming, not 3 hour phone calls. But in the real world, with a handful of daily IMs, email or web searches, the phone is amazing. Virtual keyboard will just make it that much better. The trackball + keypad makes it so much easier to use than some other nameless touchscreen phone I darn not mention.
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